Claire
Fullerton
Genre: Paranormal/Historical
Romance
Publisher: Vinspire Publishing
Date of Publication: November 30,
2013
ISBN:0989063224
ASIN:
Number of pages: 192
Word Count: 50,000
Cover Artist: Elaina Lee/For the
Muse Designs
Book Description:
When we are inexplicably drawn to
love and a particular place, is it coincidence, or have we loved before?
Enigmatic and spirited Anna
Lucera is gifted with an uncanny sixth-sense and is intrigued by all things
mystical. When her green, cat-eyes and long, black hair capture the attention
of a young lawyer named Kevin Townsend, a romance ensues which leads them to
the hauntingly beautiful region of California's Carmel-By-The-Sea where Anna is
intuitively drawn to the Madiera Hotel. Everything about the hotel and
Carmel-By-The-Sea heightens her senses and speaks to Anna as if she had been
there before.
As Anna's memory unravels the
puzzle, she is drawn into a past that's eerily familiar and a life she just may
have lived before.
The idea for “A Portal in Time” came from a trip my husband
and I took up the California coast to Carmel-by-the-Sea. It was our one year anniversary, and we’d made
reservations at an historic hotel. Everything about the lobby of the hotel piqued
my interest, and as my husband checked us in, I let my imagination roam, taking
in every inch of the opulent lobby with its travertine floors, sand-stone
fireplace, and sweeping Mediterranean tiled staircase.
As I walked through
the lobby, I pretended I was in my own house. I followed a particular hallway
from the lobby where sepia tinted photographs depicted people in period
clothing beside horse drawn carriages. Beside the pictures were architectural
plans of somebody’s home, and as I looked closely, I realized the hotel began
as a private residence.
Walking up the staircase, a wooden cathedral door loomed
ominously at the end of the hall.
“Surely,” I thought, “this was once the master bedroom.” I considered
the position of the room and decided there must be a window that looked out to
the sea. Visualizing myself in period clothing, I imagined standing before the
window, scanning the grounds below intently.
I believe energy lingers in historic sites, that memory is
retained within walls like an indelible record of history. So firm am I in this
belief, that on our first night, I tapped my husband on the shoulder at two in
the morning. “It’s so haunted in this
place, I can’t sleep,” I reported. I ruminated for the following hour, while
the story of “A Portal in Time” unfolded in my mind’s eye.
“A Portal in Time” is
the story of an imagined life that brought me to that window at the top of the
stairs in Carmel-by-the-Sea’s historic hotel.
I knew the story could only be told in alternating time periods with an
uncanny destination. I wanted to give my readers a paranormal experience, to
take them on a journey that could only be reached through a portal in time.
“A Portal in Time”(Vinspire Publishing) is available on
Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Overdrive, and Kobo.
Excerpt:
Chapter Ten
March 18, 1999, West Hollywood, California
“What’s this all
about?” Lucia pulled out a chair across from her sister. They sat outside on
the sidewalk in front of The King’s Head Café in West Hollywood amidst the hum
of traffic and the flow of patrons looking for available seating on Beverly
Boulevard. “You sounded funny on the phone.”
“I sounded
funny?”
“You sounded
mysterious,” Lucia clarified.
“I didn’t want
to get into it on the phone. I thought I’d wait to talk to you in person.”
“All right, I’m
listening,” Lucia settled back into her chair and looked at Anna expectantly.
“You’re not
going to believe this, but Kevin brought up the subject of marriage the other
day.”
“Why wouldn’t I
believe that? It’s perfectly understandable to me, isn’t it to you?” Lucia
laughed. “What did you say when he brought up the subject?”
“I skirted the
issue, of course,” Anna’s tone suggested Lucia should know that.
“Wait a minute,
did he just bring up the subject or did he ask you to marry him?”
“Well, it seemed
to me he was testing the waters, but what he said was, ‘God help me, I’m
married to a witch.’ I’m not sure I was supposed to hear it, but that’s exactly
what he said,” Anna told her.
“Wait a minute,
back up, I’m getting lost. Were you doing something that made him call you a
witch or was he just making a general observation because he’s had enough time
to realize that you are a little touched in that way?”
“In what way?”
Anna sounded defensive.
“Come on, Anna,
anyone who knows you knows you’re bent towards the uncanny, and I mean that
with nothing but love,” Lucia tried to suppress a smile. “You’re the same way
that Mom was—obviously these things run in families.”
Anna felt the
immediate tug of her heartstrings at the mention of their mother, who had died
of Leukemia two and a half years earlier. Her illness had been a harrowing
experience to both her and Lucia, absolutely draining them emotionally for the
two years prior to her death. Her slow decline compounded the loss of their
father when they were only teenagers and now that both parents were gone, Anna
and Lucia only had each other. Anna conjured the memory of their mother’s face,
her tall elegance and demure ways and recalled that she, too, had an intuitive
ability that everyone who knew her remarked upon.
“I don’t know
that I’m anywhere near the way Mom was,” Anna leaned back. “Do you remember how
she always knew what we were up to when we were little? There was no point in
ever trying to fool her about anything because she always knew the truth.”
“Of course,
you’ve always been a terrible liar. Everything you’re thinking is always
written on your face. You were the one who always gave us away to Mom, not me,”
Lucia reminded.
“That’s not
entirely true,” Anna volleyed, “I remember the time you tried to sneak out the
upstairs window at night and found Mom sitting on the garden bench under the
tree you used because she’d picked up on what you were thinking practically
before you even decided to do it. She could just tell by looking at you!”
“You’re right
about that,” Lucia nodded. “Mom was something else altogether, wasn’t she? I’m
convinced she was clairvoyant. I think she knew how to read us both. I really
do miss her every day. I think of her every time I see a sunset, every time I
feel the change of seasons in the air, every time I see the full moon. She made
such an event out of the little things in life, didn’t she?”
“She definitely
did. She placed great importance on ceremonies and symbolism and things like
that,” Anna said. “I see so many things the same way she did because she taught
us how.”
“I do, too. What
she did to the exact spot where Dad got in his car wreck is a perfect example.”
“Well, a lot of
people do a similar thing. I see markers on the side of the road all the time.
Standing crosses with bouquets of flowers under them at the scene of a fatal
accident. It’s a commemoration of a particular place where something
significant happened.”
“Yes, but it was
so much more to Mom than that,” Lucia reminded Anna. “That’s why she buried the
key where Dad got in the accident. Do you recall that night? It was only two
days after Dad died, but somehow Mom managed to set aside her grief in order to
take care of business. She woke us up after midnight and told us to get in the
car because we were going to conduct a ceremony. “
Interview with Anna Lucera from “A Portal in Time.”
Q: How old are you, and where are you from?
A: I’m twenty-six, and was born and raised in Los Angeles,
California. I’m one of the few people actually from Los Angeles!
Q: What do you do for a living?
A: I’m a free-lance writer, which means I work for myself. It suits me perfectly because I wouldn’t want
to work in an office. I write for magazines
such as “Whole Life Times” and “Yoga Journal.” I like writing about ways to
live your best life.
Q: What are your hobbies?
A: I have been a student of Ballet since I was six. I love Yoga and Pilates as well. I like to
take long walks in nature, and I am a voracious reader. I am also a collector
of semi-precious gemstones, such as Amethyst, Citrine, Aventurine and clear
quartz. I’ve been collecting crystals for about ten years. I have them all over
my apartment, and like studying their metaphysical properties.
Q: What do you like to read?
A: I love books on spirituality, historical fiction, and
mainstream fiction.
Q : When you say books on spirituality, can you name a few?
A: Yes, for example, “Anatomy of the Spirit” by Caroline
Myss, “A Return to Love” by Marianne Williamson, all the books on “the other
side” that John Edward has put out ( I’m fascinated in mediumship; John Holland
is one of my favorite writers on the subject), Barbara Anne Brennan’s “Hands of
Light,” and I have two copies of the Wilhelm/Baynes version of the I-Ching as
well as Carol K. Anthony’s interpretation.
There are too many books to name my extensive library!
Q: What was your major in college?
A: Psychology. I wanted to learn everything I could about
the mind. I am intrigued by what motivates us as human beings, and especially
love the subject of dreams. I still study dreams, and am currently taking a
class in developing intuition. I think I’ll always be interested in the
mysteries of the mind. I also studied Journalism, which lead to my writing
career.
Q: If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
A: Definitely Carmel-by-the-Sea on California’s Monterey
Peninsula. I feel inexplicably drawn there. The first time I visited Carmel, I
felt as if I’d been there before! The
temperature is mild year round, kind of like a perpetual fall season, and there
is usually an ethereal mist in the mornings and early evenings because of the
marine layer that comes in from the sea. There are pine trees and cypress
groves all throughout Carmel, and there is an historic, bucolic feel to the
entire area that is accompanied by the incessant, rhythmic sounds from the sea.
Carmel Bay is at the bottom of Carmel’s main street. It is a white-sand
beach shaped in an arch that lays beneath majestic sand dunes. What I love
about Carmel is its residential area: there are many cottages built from the
1920’s through the 1940’s that look like houses out of Grimm’s Fairy
tales. All in all, Carmel-by-the-Sea is
a magical place!
Q: Where do you see yourself in ten years?
A: I hope to be
living in Carmel, California, living in one of its cottages – hopefully with
the man I’m dating now! One never knows what fate has in store!
Claire Fullerton is the author of
Paranormal/Historical Romance, “A Portal in Time.” Her second novel, “Dancing to an Irish Reel,”
set in Connemara, Ireland, will be published in March, 2015. Claire is a contributor to numerous magazines
as well as a multiple contributor to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book
series. She is a multiple award winning essayist, a former major-market radio
disc jockey, and an avid ballet dancer.
Claire hails from Memphis, Tennessee, and currently divides her time
between Malibu and Carmel, California with her husband and two German
shepherds!
@cfullerton3
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